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Life in New
Orleans, Part III
Upon
the death of her first husband, Hinrich Hellmers, on 17 August 1872,
Alvina Jürgensen was left with seven children, the oldest of whom
was 12 years old and the youngest, only two months. For a while, she continued to
operate the grocery/barroom at the corner of
Independence and Dauphine Streets.
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Because of her association with the Lutheran church, she would have learned of a widower, Christian Ludwig Knop,
whose wife Anna Carolina had died on 20 January 1873. Christian was left
with seven young children of his own, the youngest an infant, since the
mother Anna died only two days after the child was born.
On Thursday, 18 September 1873, Christian and Alvina were married at
St. Paul Lutheran Church.
St. Paul Lutheran Church
as it appeared from 1860 to 1889.
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The church record is transcribed below:
Christian Ludwig
Knop 45. Jahre alt aus
Osnabrück Hannover Sohn
v. August Knop u.
Lisetta gb. Schütte Mit
Alvina Henrietta
Jürgensen Wittwe
Helmers 33. Jahre alt
aus Schleswig Holstein
Tochter von Gustav
Jürgensen u.
Dorothea gb. Petersen.
The complete marriage record can be seen here.
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Within
a year of their marriage, Christian and Alvina had a daughter of
their own, Margarethe. A year and a half later, they had a second daughter, Clara. By the
time of the 1880 federal census, their household had 16 children: 7
from Christian's first marriage; 7 from Alvina's first marriage; and, 2
from their marriage together.
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The image to the left is a detail from the 1880
federal census. It shows that Christian and Alvina lived with their
large family in two adjacent houses in the 8th
Ward.
The full record (which can be seen here) shows that Christian Knop operated a Coffee House, which in New Orleans was a barroom or saloon.
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Christian Knop appeared in the 1887 city
directory. It showed that he operated a saloon at 74 North Peters
Street in the 3rd District.
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The combined Knop and Hellmers families lived in
two houses: 74 and 76 N. Peters Street. The 1883 Robinson map shows
those houses near the middle of block 9. The Coffee House / Saloon was in a
two-story brick building at No. 74. The Knops presumably lived on the
second floor. It would appear from the 1880 census record that the
Hellmers children lived in the one-story wood-frame house at No. 76. A
detail of the map with the houses renumbered is below:
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Detail from 1883 Robinson Map, Plate 18
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Christian Knop continued
to operate his saloon at No. 74 N. Peters Street through the 1880s. By
1891, he is listed in the city directory as working as a bartender for
an establishment at 435 Decatur Street named Guerra & Knop.
On 17 February 1898, Christian Knop passed away. He was buried from
First English Lutheran Church, to which many in the Knop family had
transferred when this English-speaking church was established in 1888.
He was buried in Cypress Grove Cemetery.
After her second husband's death, Alvina lived with her children. At
the time of the 1900 census, widow Alvina Jürgensen Hellmers Knop
was living with her daughter, Alvina Hellmers, at 1026 Piety Street. In
1910, when Alvina was 70 years old, the federal census showed her
living with her son-in-law, Charles Keitz, and his children at 3333
Dauphine Street. His wife Margaretha Knop Keitz had died in March of
that year. By 1920, Alvina was living with her daughter
Alvina again, who by this time had married Louis Lanch. They lived at 1333
Elmira (later Gallier) Street. She was listed in the census
as Mrs. Chris Knop.
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On Saturday, 9 February
1923, Alvina died at the age of 82. At the time, she was living
with family members at 1324 Lesseps Street. She was buried from St.
Paul Lutheran Church on the day of her death. The cause of death was
given as paralysis and apoplexy (stroke).
She was interred in Cypress
Grove Cemetery with the Knop family. Later, her remains were moved to
the tomb of her son Gustave Hellmers in Greenwood Cemetery (right).
Photo by Norman Hellmers, 2007
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| During her life, Alvina
Jürgensen Hellmers Knop had ten children, nine of whom survived
into adulthood. (Two of the nine were the two daughters she had with Christian Knop, both of whom
survived to marry and have children.) She was also stepmother to
Christian Knop's seven children from his first marriage to Anna
Mangelsdorf Knop. |
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Go to next section: Alvina Jürgensen's Descendants
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Return to Hellmers Family
History Opening Page
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